Page 51 of Architect's Christmas Nanny

“Onemedium-sizedchapter,” he amended, smiling at her treachery. “It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

“Just tell her you love her,” Josie said, without looking up from her book. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”

Brad was so astonished that he tried to clear his throat to buy himself a second and almost choked on his own tongue.

“Seriously, Dad?” Josie said, looking up. “Do you think I didn’t know? Go down there and make sure she doesn’t leave. If you wait too long, she’s going to think you don’t even like her.”

“I’m glad I have your blessing,” he managed, wondering when his inquisitive nine-year old had suddenly become a relationship guru.

Josie smiled at that.

“Of course you have my blessing,” she said.

“Is this what you asked Santa for?” he asked her, suddenly putting together what had happened after she whispered to him.

“I obviously can’t tell you what I asked Santa for,” Josie sniffed. “Or it won’t come true.”

Her nose was back in her book as she waved him away.

All he wanted was to sit on the edge of her bed and ask how she had grown up so fast, but he knew if he didn’t move now, he was going to lose his nerve. And he certainly couldn’t make Santa Claus look bad just because he was having a hard time understanding how his daughter had become so insightful.

When he reached the top of the steps, he took a deep breath. He had never been one for romantic speeches, so he opted not to plan what he was going to say. He knew it would ring truer if he just went with what was in his heart. And there was plenty there to draw from. He had been harboring these feelings for so many years.

As he headed down the stairs, he heard Jillian on the phone with someone, her voice serious. She definitely wasn’t talking to her sister or the baby, or even that friend of hers, Fiona.

This was almost aprofessionalsort of voice she was using.

The Butlers, maybe?

But as he got closer to the bottom of the stairs, what he heard made him freeze in his tracks.

“So youdohave room in the creative writing program?” she was asking, sounding incredulous. “Yes, ofcourse. I wrote that this afternoon right before I submitted my application…. Oh. Oh, wow, thank you…. Yes. Yes, of course, I can start right after the holidays. I can’t believe this. Thank you, thank you so much.”

Brad didn’t dare to take another step, or even breathe for a moment as he listened to Jillian’s sigh of elation after hanging up the phone.

Now it all made sense.

She had been so lit up and happy all day today. But it wasn’t because of him or Josie. It was because she was writing again, and because she was applying to go back to school.

Leaning against the cool plaster of the staircase wall, Brad closed his eyes and swore he could feel his heart breaking.

17

JILLIAN

Jillian spent the next day feeling amazed and excited. Things were coming together for her, and the book kept tickling her imagination. When Brad didn’t come back right away after dropping Josie off at her cousin’s house she decided to pull out the notebook and write some more.

Though she had wondered if yesterday was a fluke, within a few minutes of sitting down, her pen was sliding across the page as furiously as before, and her heart was flying faster than her hand.

The only shadow in her sunshiny mood actually had to do with Brad. He’d told her last night that he wanted to talk to her. But by the time she got off the phone and he came downstairs he told her it would keep, and that he needed to catch up on some email.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal, except that she’d had the wild idea yesterday that all her dreams might be coming true at once.

The way Brad had looked at her… it was like he was seeing her for the first time,reallyseeing her—not as a nanny or an employee, or even a friend. He’d kept glancing over at her on the drive home, almost like he was drinking in the sight of her.

And then he had asked to talk to her privately.

She had been tempted to text Fee right then, and tell her she’d been wrong about Brad Williams. Now she was so glad the school had called before she had the chance.

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